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Rather than blaming expansion and complaining about the watered-down pitching the the major leagues, we fantasy players must deal with the fact that most teams have only two starters that can help our cause. Some, only one.

Then there are those rare gems. Those third, fourth and fifth starters that can pick up a win every so often and not completely inflate our ERA and WHIP.

Here are a couple that you might swipe in a low-budget trade:

Squeeze whatever you can out of Florida’s Tommy Phelps. He replaced the struggling Darren Oliver as the Marlins’ fifth starter and pitched seven scoreless innings Wednesday. There is bad news, though. Once A.J. Burnett returns from elbow surgery, Phelps will be booted back to the pen. Which reminds us: Pick up Burnett.

The Padres are an interesting team when looking for pitching depth. Brian Lawrence has burned us in the past, but this could finally be his year. Coming into the weekend, he’s 6-3 with a 4.80 ERA in 10 starts. At 10 starts last year, Lawrence was 2-5. He’s a typically slow starter (went a pedestrian 4-3 through 10 starts in 2002), so we’re betting his quick pace this year continues.

It looks like Reds GM Dan O’Brien is the Billy Beane of pitching. While Beane scours the waiver wire for hitters who draw walks, O’Brien looks for pitchers who don’t give any up. Hence the impressive WHIP of their top three: Paul Wilson (1.28), Cory Lidle (1.20) and Juan Acevedo (1.21).

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Crystal ball: Russ Ortiz, Jaret Wright and Mike Hampton go for the Braves against the Expos this week. Wright might be a good idea for a cheap win, but then drop him immediately.

Seth Greisinger, Carlos Silva, Brad Radke and Johan Santana are Twins’ scheduled starters for the four-game set against the Rays. After a torrid start, Silva has a putrid 9.69 ERA in his last three starts. Stay away from Silva, but give Greisinger a try for the cheap win.

Try Jeff Suppan this week against the Pirates. He owns a 3.18 ERA against them and, more importantly, a 0.94 WHIP.

This might sound like a stretch, but give Joel Pineiro (1-6, 5.74 ERA) a shot against the Blue Jays this week. He has a career 2.77 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP against Toronto.